Into the Unown (Pokemon Fanfiction OC)
Chapter 169

“Are you sure you want to do this, Nina?” Kerry asked, voice full of apprehension.

Nina returned her friend’s concern with a confident nod. “Yup, Blaine isn’t at his Gym so I want to cover all my bases before giving up. Besides, didn’t you say you want to catch a Magby?”

Kerry nodded with a blush. Embarrassed at being called out. Nina couldn’t blame her, Magbies were cute. And if she didn’t already have her sixth Pokemon lined up, Nina would catch one for herself too. “Also, is it just me or is Kerry’s team starting to look more well-rounded than mine?”

“Anyways,” Nina continued. “With Nitey and Espy protecting us, the volcano won’t be a risk.”

That’s right, Nina wanted to go to Blaine’s hidden arena in the mouth of the Cinnabar Volcano, in search of the elusive Gym Leader. There was a chance that the old man might be in Indigo Village for the conference, but she had already stopped by the Cinnabar Gym earlier and confirmed that that was not the case. Although the receptionist did decline to disclose her boss’s location, if she even knew where he was to begin with.

“What if the volcano erupts while we’re in there…” Kerry whined, eliciting laughter from Nina.

“It’s fine, Cinnabar volcano has only ever erupted a small handful of times throughout history. The Magmars and Magbies living inside it absorb the heat of the volcano as sustenance, helping to regulate its temperature and by extension, the pressure as well.” Nina explained. 

“That’s why the local Pokemon Rangers are so careful about maintaining the population to ensure that there’s always just the right number of Magmars around to keep the volcano in check.”

“Then is it really okay for us to be going in to catch a Magby?” Kerry asked with a frown.

Nina chuckled. “It’s fine. Having too little Magmar around is bad. But having too many of them around isn’t a good thing either.” Scarcity led to conflict and Magmars were Pokemon that evolved through battle."

A group of Magmars fighting in an active volcano was sure to agitate it enough to the point of an eruption. Not to mention the fact that Magmortars were practically walking volcanoes, so allowing a wild one to emerge from the conflict also posed a massive risk to the nearby populace.

“Maintaining a Pokemon’s population is more than just deterring poachers, Kerr.” Nina continued. “You can actually look up the capture quota of certain Pokemon like Magby on the Pokemon Rangers’ database. And right now, there’s still some leeway for capture.” Access to non-public information like this was one of the many perks of being a Pokedex holder.

Cinnabar Island was actually a perfect example of the Pokemon world’s miraculous ecosystem. The magma flowing beneath the earth helped to enrich the island’s soil, enabling lush jungles and thriving wildlife. 

In fact, contrary to the games, the island probably had the most Pokemon variety in the entire region, and the one place where someone was most likely to encounter non-native species. Thanks in part to migrating Pokemon and the cascade of foreign tourists that come to visit every year.

And with a healthy population of Poison Types, both humans and Pokemon were able to reap the benefits of Cinnabar Volcano without having to deal with most of its downsides, aside from the occasional earthquakes.

Kerry nodded reluctantly and grabbed hold of Nina’s hand to get onto Nitey’s bareback. Nina had tried to get her fussy Dragon to wear a saddle, but he fought her every step of the way, not liking how the straps constricted his tubby belly. Even though Nina spent a fortune to have one custom made for him.

“Alright Nitey, let’s circle around the rim of the volcano first. See if Espy can’t detect any signs of human life.” A seasoned old trainer like Blaine probably had his mind shielded, but no harm in trying.

“Niiite~”

“Es.”

Both of Nina’s Pokemon replied in affirmation as Nitey launched into the skies with a powerful flap of his wings.

***

“Here, Kerry.” Nina said as she offered her friend one of the many rebreathers that she had a bad habit of hoarding. “The poisonous gasses from the periphery are mostly being neutralized by the local Koffing and Weezing population. But better safe than sorry.” Especially if they were going into the heart of the volcano itself. 

In hindsight, having a battle arena built in such a hostile environment was truly an insidious move on Blaine’s part.

The girls put on their breathing apparatus and scanned the area with their eyes, trying to spot any human silhouettes amidst the grey smog.

“Do you sense anything, Espy?” Nina asked, to which the Espeon curled up at her front shook her head in denial.

Nina sighed. “I guess we have no choice… Nitey, let’s find a place to land and continue on foot — not the mouth of the volcano though. I doubt Blaine left his arena undefended.”

“Do you know which way to go, Nina?” Kerry asked, prompting the other girl to flip open her Pokedex as they landed by a cavern around the midway point of the flaming mountain.

“Yeah, I downloaded the latest map of Cinnabar Volcano from the Pokemon Rangers. The layout of the volcano changes all the time, so we still need to be careful. However, the map should still be mostly accurate.” It was just updated two months ago after all.

“Let’s go see if we can’t catch you a Magby first,” said Nina. “Maybe we might get lucky along the way.”

Kerry nodded in approval. Finding a Magby required them to journey into the heart of the volcano where it was hottest. That was also likely where Blaine’s secret arena was located.

Stepping into the belly of an active volcano was like stepping into the stomach of a Charizard after it just came back from a cheese buffet. That was to say, stiflingly hot and smelling of farts, even through the rebreather they were wearing. Nina could feel every drop of moisture in her body evaporating as soon as they exited her pores.

Fortunately, the girls had their special jackets on which helped to regulate their temperatures somewhat. And Espy, who immediately put up a barrier to block out the fumes with a scrunched up nose. In fact, Nina’s fussy princess even levitated herself off the ground to avoid subjecting her paws to the searingly hot surface and to keep her precious fur from being tainted by soot.

Meanwhile, Nina grabbed hold of Lynxie who was tap dancing on the ground and Kerry held Peppy who was bouncing around on the Lynx’s back. 

Nina also released Brucey, whose eyes shone like a spotlight and began emitting barely audible sound waves to map out their surroundings, before feeding a pulse of monochrome images directly to Espy, who in turn processed them before sharing with her companions.

“It always feels so weird whenever Espy does that.” Kerry frowned, eliciting laughter from Nina.

“Haha. That’s ‘cause you’re not used to it.” The girl teased. “It was a lot worse in the beginning, let me tell you.” It took a lot of hard work and training to get things so streamlined. 

Nina remembered both she and Espy were inundated with incessant migraines and a barrage of irrelevant noise during their early training period. Trying to get the hyperactive Brucey to focus was a herculean task. Even now, his mind still wandered at every little shift in the environment. It was just that Espy had gotten better at filtering out the noise.

Contrary to regular cave exploration, it actually got brighter the deeper one delved into a volcano, thanks to the veins of superheated rocks lining the cavern. Nina was so fascinated by the phenomenon that she went and struck at one of the veins using her ice axe, a similar one that Lara Croft used to climb walls in the Tomb Raider remake.

“Nina, stop that!” cried the anxious Kerry, eliciting nods from the exasperated Espy as well.

The girl in question laughed. “It’s fine, there’s no molten lava behind the walls or anything.” Nina bent down to pick up the chunk of rock she dislodged with a thick pair of mittens and held it up for Kerry to see. “See, it’s just some really hot rock and some pretty looking crystals.”

Crystals were common in areas with high volcanic activity. Often formed as a result of compressed gas pockets trapped within magma. The sample that Nina procured had a mesmerizing dark purple hue that gleamed white under lamplight, almost like a fragment from the starry night sky.

“Shiiinx~” Kerry was disinclined to touch the rock in Nina’s hand, but Lynxie was eyeing the rock with sparkling eyes, like he wanted to take a bit out of it, probably mistaking it for a delicious candy or something. However, before the gluttonous Shinx could scald his mouth, a set of claws gingerly grabbed at Nina’s spoil.

Nitey, ever the curious Dragon, rolled the smouldering rock on his bare palms. He even gave it a little sniff, only to flare up his nostrils and recoil at the pungent smell. 

“Nite! Drago, nite!” 

Nina laughed and gave her partner’s belly a little pat. “It’s volcanic rock, you silly Psyduck. Of course it smells bad.” She then held out a little pouch for the Dragonite to deposit the rock into. Once she got back to the inn, Nina planned to analyze the rock and catalogue it for posterity.

The cavern that they found themselves in was fairly wide, Nina didn’t even have to return Nitey. Though, there were some parts that were a bit of a tight squeeze for the Dragonite.

“Are you okay, Nitey? I can just return you and release you again.”

“Dra!” Nitey groaned and shook his head in obstinance as he tightly hugged his stubby tail and took in a deep breath to shrink his belly. And with a great deal of friction, he was just barely able to squeeze through. It was a good thing that Dragonite scales were impervious to the searing heat of the rocky surface.

Nina laughed and wiped the soot off Nitey’s face with a piece of cloth. She would have to give him a thorough bath later when they got back.

As they continued on their merry way, they encountered Geodude, Koffing and the like. But there was no conflict, partly because Espy was around to help with communication and partly because of the imposing Dragonite looming over the group.

Nitey had become skilled enough with his Type Energy manipulation that he could completely suppress his Draconic aura by this point. But none of the local Pokemon were dumb enough to pick a fight with a Dragon. Aside from a particularly belligerent Magmar perhaps.

“Espy, can you ask them where the local Magmar colony is at?”

The Espeon replied with a mental pulse of affirmation and proceeded to question the wild Pokemon in an overbearing tone, almost threatening in the images she was conveying, eliciting a sigh from Nina.

Ever since Espy obtained a better grasp of the human language, she had developed quite the ego and had taken to treating Pokemon who lived in the wild as uncivilized cretins.

Fortunately, most wild Pokemon responded to strength and authority, so they answered Espy’s inquiries well enough — providing general directions on where to find the Magmar.

Nina thanked the helpful Pokemon and rewarded them with Berries, a fairly rare commodity within the ashy confines of Cinnabar Volcano. So they all cried out in joy and even lightly nuzzled against Nina in affection, eliciting a warm smile from the girl.